The New Year’s Day attacks in Las Vegas and New Orleans have shocked the nation, leaving investigators scrambling to understand the connections, if any, between two U.S. Army veterans responsible for the carnage.
Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Army veteran, allegedly rented a Cybertruck in Colorado Springs, where he resides, before driving it to Nevada. Authorities report that he loaded the vehicle with firework mortars, gasoline cans, and other flammable materials.
On Wednesday morning, Livelsberger detonated the vehicle outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. The explosion killed him instantly and injured seven others, leaving the scene in chaos as bystanders fled from the massive fireball and plume of smoke.
Both incidents share haunting parallels, from the perpetrators’ military backgrounds to their use of rented vehicles in acts of calculated destruction. At the center of this investigation is a shared history at Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation in North Carolina.
Fort Bragg: A Shared Starting Point
Both Livelsberger, the suspect in the Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion, and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, the driver in the New Orleans truck rampage, served at Fort Bragg during their military careers, sources told Denver7 News.
Livelsberger and Jabbar overlapped at Fort Bragg during a pivotal period when they prepared for deployments to Afghanistan. Jabbar served in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, working in human resources and IT. Livelsberger’s specific role at Fort Bragg remains under investigation, but officials confirmed he was stationed there during the same timeframe.
